The present invention relates to a management system that includes a management apparatus and a managed apparatus, a management method and a control program to be employed for the management system, and specifically relates to a management system in which the management apparatus and the managed apparatus are coupled to each other through a server, a management method and a control program to be employed for the management system.
In recent years, there have been increasingly proliferated in the market, a copier, a MFP (Multi Function Peripheral), etc., each of which is provided with a copy function, a facsimile function, a printer function, a scanner function, etc., (hereinafter, referred to as an image forming apparatus as a general term for each of them). Since an operating ratio of such the image forming apparatus is relatively high, and further, it is necessary for the user to periodically apply maintenance and inspection processing to such the image forming apparatus due to a wide variety of consumable parts used for such the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus, serving as the managed apparatus, is coupled to the management apparatus through a certain communication network, so that the management apparatus acquires apparatus information indicating statuses of the image forming apparatus concerned, so as to conduct operations for controlling the image forming apparatus, based on the apparatus information acquired from the image forming apparatus concerned.
For instance, with respect to the copy data management system, which is provided with such a terminal device that transmits data representing various kinds of information, such as a number of paper sheets copied by the copier concerned, an operating history of the user, etc., a request for maintenance, etc., to the intensive control apparatus for controlling the concerned copier through a telephone line, JP2876632 (Japanese Patent Publication) sets forth a configuration of the system, which includes: a transmitting section to transmit the abovementioned data to the terminal device; a telephone device; a line connecting section to connect any one of the telephone device and the transmitting section to the telephone line; and a control section to connect the transmitting section to the telephone line so as to transmit the abovementioned data after waiting a predetermined time interval, when the data transmitting condition is established and the telephone device is in a busy status.
In this connection, in order to securely control the image forming apparatus serving as the managed apparatus, it is necessary for the image forming apparatus to periodically transmit its own apparatus information at regular intervals to the management apparatus. However, since the secure maintenance of the productivity is very important for such the production apparatus having a high operating ratio as the image forming apparatus, if a certain job is suspended due to the implementation of operations for communicating with the management apparatus, there arise a problem that the productivity of the image forming apparatus concerned would be deteriorated.
To overcome the abovementioned problem, it may be considered such a method that the operations for communicating with the management apparatus are conducted only during the time when the image forming apparatus enters into the job waiting status. However, since the production apparatus that is continuously operated for 24 hours with the high operating ratio hardly enters into the job waiting status, such the production apparatus as abovementioned could not communicate with the management apparatus indefinitely. Accordingly, there arise another problem that it becomes impossible for the management apparatus to appropriately control the image forming apparatus based on the current apparatus information.
As mentioned in the foregoing, with respect to the communicating operations between the management apparatus and the managed apparatus, it is necessary to take it into account not to deteriorate the productivity of the managed apparatus. However, if excessively great importance is given to the productivity of the managed apparatus, it becomes impossible for the management apparatus to grasp the current statuses of the managed apparatus, as aforementioned. Accordingly, it becomes important to find a compromise between factors derived from productive viewpoints and those derived from controlling viewpoints, so as to appropriately conduct the information communicating operations at an appropriate timing.